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Bow string hitting my wrist

cart6769

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I was recently given a Bear Kodiak Hunter recurve bow and I have very minimal knowledge about archery. When I shoot the bow, the string hits me right where the thumb meets the wrist. I am wearing an arm guard but it is hitting me in front of that guard. After this happened about twice I put the thing up.

If anybody has any advice I'd certainly appreciate the help. I'm not sure if its something I'm doing, something needs adjusting on the bow, or a combination of the two.
 
I agree with Bear44.
A quick fix is to twist the sting tighter in the direction of its natural twist. There is a limit as to how much shorter you can make the string. If this text helps, buy a string of the correct length.
Add to this when you do, make sure you keep wax on the string...That will keep it from fraying.
 
This brought back a flashback of the first time I shot a recurve bow (or any bow for that matter). A friend bought a Browning recurve at a Play it again sports for $15. The guy thought it was a toy bow.

so he brought it by to show it off and handed it to me to shoot. I'm double jointed and didn't realize that I had twisted my elbow and wrist very far into the strings path. I loosed and the string hit me at the inside of the elbow and rode all the way to my wrist. Instantly a huge hemotoma rose up about an inch or more off of my inside forearm. My eyes went :shocked:. It looks like my arms was gonna bust open!
A few minutes later after icing my arm and nearly freaking out, he handed it back and said, "Here, try again" :doh:
 
Yeah, string is too long and so the brace height it too short.

Also, don't lock your elbow, as that tends to cant it in, putting your inside of the forearm in the way of the string if you aren't careful.

If you bought the wrong length string, don't try to "shorten" it by twisting the hell out of it. Go and get the right length string for that bow. If it is the original string for that bow and it stretched that much, get rid of it immedately and get a new one in the correct length.

And last thing, ALWAYS use a bow stringer. Never do that dumb move where you stick your bow between your legs and try to bend it so you can get the string on... Ever. If you see someone doing that, or telling you that's how you do it, they are a noob and don't know how to handle a bow. I would also never buy a bow that I saw someone string that way, as it tends to twist the limbs and cause stress fractures that may fly apart one day...

Get a bow stringer for $15 off Amazon and do it properly. And for god's sake don't try to string it by putting one end on the ground and pushing down on it... That's a great way to damage the tip of the bow, and if for some reason your hands were to ever slip, a great way to lose an eye.

Do it right, and get the correct length string and a bow stringer... I use this one on both my recurve and my English longbow...

https://www.amazon.com/Selway-Limbsaver-Recurve-Bow-Stringer/dp/B07KY38FFD
 
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